Lori Governor Artur Nalbandyan had no estimate on the case of violence against Narine Avetisyan, Editor-in-Chief of Lori TV.
The governor questions the circumstances of the incident and wates for the end of the investigation.
Details in the video of Lori TV
Yerevan Show 2017 International Jewelry & Watch Exhibition has kicked off today in Yerevan, Armenia, bringing together prominent jewelry companies, professionals, individual entrepreneurs and representatives of the commercial networks.
70 jewelry companies from six states – Armenia, Belarus, Switzerland, U.S., Turkey and Russia present their works at the exhibition hosted by the Meridian Expo Centre located at the free economic zone area.
Professionals from Iran, UAE, Poland and the EAEU members states have been invited to take part in the event which showcases jewelry made from gold and diamonds, religious jewelry, watches and other expensive works.
The expo will run until 8 October. For the eight year already Yerevan Show 2017 International Jewelry & Watch Exhibition is organized by the Armenian Jewellers Association. The event is organized jointly with the Russian Restek company for two years already.
In the framework of the Yerevan Show jewelry exhibition, the opening of the Yerevan Fashion Week’s third season will be held at Meridian Expo Centre.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomes the recent meetings in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly between the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General said in a statement on Sept. 26.
The secretary general supports the work of the Co-Chairs to de-escalate tensions and reinvigorate the negotiation process, said the statement.
“The secretary-general hopes that the planned summit meeting at the presidential level would contribute to enhancing confidence and fostering the necessary political will among the parties to find peaceful compromise solutions to the key outstanding issues,” the statement said.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Wednesday, Armenian Lawyers Go On Strike . Artak Hambardzumian . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - Lawyers hold a roundtable discussion in Yerevan, 13Sep2017. More 180 Armenian lawyers went on strike on Wednesday to protest against controversial security checks on attorneys representing radical opposition members in three ongoing trials. The defense lawyers have been required to walk through metal detectors and have their bags checked before entering courtrooms. They say this procedure amounts to searches not allowed by Armenian law. Many of them have refused to attend court hearings in the trials of Zhirayr Sefilian, the jailed leader of the Founding Parliament movement, and his three dozen loyalists who seized a police station in Yerevan last year. "We hope that this one-day protest will be enough for state bodies to look into the problem more thoroughly and find a solution acceptable to everyone," one of the protesting lawyers, Tigran Atanesian, said at a roundtable discussion in Yerevan. Or else, he warned, they will continue to fight against the practice. Armenia's Judicial Department insists that the security "inspections" do not constitute searches and are therefore legal. The leadership of the Chamber of Advocates, the national bar association, has sided with the department. The chamber's newly reelected chairman, Ara Zohrabian, reaffirmed that position when he spoke during the discussion. "When nobody touches a lawyer's bag there can be no talk of a search," he said. Mushegh Shushanian, one of the lawyers representing the arrested opposition gunmen, denounced that stance. "One has the impression that the chairman of the Chamber of Advocates is tasked with campaigning against independent lawyers," Shushanian charged. The one-day strike disrupted the latest hearing in one of the two trials of the gunmen. It was scheduled for Wednesday. The presiding judge, Artush Gabrielian, cited the absence of 15 lawyers who joined the strike. "The court does not regard as positive the lawyers' failure to attend today's hearing because they were obliged to show up," Gabrielian said, adding that he could take fresh disciplinary action against them. Armenia Encouraged To Boost Exports To U.S. . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Armenian businesspeople are briefed on ways of capitalizing on Armenia's mostly tariff-free access to the U.S. market, Yerevan, 13Sep2017. A senior U.S. official encouraged Armenian businesspeople to take greater advantage of Armenia's mostly tariff-free access to the U.S. market during a visit to Yerevan on Wednesday. Assistant Trade Representative Ed Gresser advised them on the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) at a meeting organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (AmCham) and the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan. Armenia is among 129 countries and territories included in the GSP program, which fully or partly exempts many goods manufactured by them from U.S import duties. Despite these trade preferences, Armenian exports to the United States have been quite modest to date. According to official statistics, Armenian companies exported only about $39 million worth of goods -- mostly aluminum foil, jewelry items and some foodstuffs -- to the U.S. last year. Those exported jumped by 62 percent year on year, to almost $35 million, in the first seven months of 2017.Sixty percent of them were covered by the GSP. Gresser said that the preferential trade regime gives Armenian exporters a significant competitive edge in the United States. "No country in the European Union is eligible for GSP," he said. "Russia is not in the GSP system, China is not in the GSP system, Iran is not in the GSP system." "So when buyers are choosing between Armenia products and those of some neighboring countries or those of some very large exporters, the savings GSP offers can be a pretty compelling argument for buying the Armenian product," argued the U.S. official. Armenia is already the world's fourth largest exporter of cherry jam to the U.S., he said. "One of my top priorities as ambassador for the last two years has been to improve economic ties and trade between Armenia and the United States," Richard Mills, the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, told reporters after the AmCham meeting. "That's why I am very happy to be welcoming to Yerevan this week two senior members from the United States Trade Representative's office." "These two visitors are here to talk about the potential for expanding Armenia's business community's use of the Generalized System of Preferences that the United States has in place," he said. The U.E. Embassy and the Armenian Ministry of Economy already organized a seminar in March 2016 for Armenian manufacturing firms interested in capitalizing on the GSP. Another senior official from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was on hand to present business opportunities stemming from the trade scheme and legal procedures for qualifying for it. Gresser met on Tuesday with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Deputy Economy Minister Garegin Melkonian. Official Armenian sources said the talks focused not only on GSP-related issues but also broader commercial ties between the two nations. In particular, the two sides discussed preparations for a second session of the U.S.-Armenia Trade and Investment Council. The council was set up in line with the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) signed by U.S. and Armenian officials in Washington in May 2015. It is tasked with addressing obstacles to bilateral trade. Karapetian Defends Track Record . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian speaks in the National Assembly in Yerevan, 13Sep2017. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian insisted on Wednesday that the macroeconomic situation in Armenia has improved during his one-year tenure. Karapetian pointed to faster economic growth recorded this year when he was asked about the impact of his government's policies on the lives of ordinary citizens during a question-and-answer session in the Armenian parliament. "As for how our fellow citizens feel, we have presented you with macroeconomic indicators that are -- I'm sorry if this sound immodest -- are the best in the region, in the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS," he said, answering a question from a deputy from President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). "Does that mean that we have solved all our problems? Of course not, because we have practically no people who don't want to improve the quality of their life. So it's not that we will have lived up to everyone's expectations within a year." "But I think that the overall trend, the direction in which we are moving satisfies us to a certain extent," added Karapetian. Karapetian was tasked with easing socioeconomic hardship in the country when Sarkisian appointed him as prime minister in September last year. He pledged to do so through reforms that would improve the domestic business environment and attract more foreign investment in the struggling Armenian economy. According official statistics, economic growth accelerated from 0.2 percent in 2016 to around 5 percent in the first half of this year. Also, the government's tax revenue has risen by almost 7 percent in the past year. Opposition politicians and other critics of the government dismiss these figures, saying that they have had no real tangible impact on the population. They also remain highly skeptical about Karapetian's reform pledges. Karapetian has repeatedly indicated his desire to stay on as prime minister after Sarkisian serves to his final presidential term in April. The president has not yet clarified whether he plans to become prime minister or replace Karapetian with someone else. Press Review "Zhoghovurd" blasts what it sees as a thuggish behavior of some members of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) at Tuesday's session of Yerevan's municipal council. "Instead of holding debates with their opposition colleagues, they were making offensive remarks," the paper says. It says Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian, who chaired the session, did not even attempt to rein in them, meaning that he tacitly supported them. "This is nothing but a disgrace," it says. "Hraparak" says that when Karen Karapetian took over as prime minister a year ago he made a grim assessment of the economic situation in Armenia. "It was evident that Karapetian was invited to get the country's economic out of a pit," writes the paper. "A pit into which it was plunged by the HHK, its governments and their policies." It claims that President Serzh Sarkisian and his entourage no longer allow him to "single-handedly make decisions on important issues, appoint or fire high-ranking officials." "Even on his political future nothing explicit is being said right now, unlike in the initial period of his tenure," it says. "Haykakan Zhamanak" ridicules the minuscule volume of trade between Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, a fellow member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Imports of Kyrgyz goods to Armenia stood at less than $10,000 in the first half of this year, official data shows. "It must be noted that Armenia's exports to Kyrgyzstan are much greater: about $424,000," the paper says. (Lilit Harutiunian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Tennis legend Serena Williams and her fiancé, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, welcomed their first child into the world on Friday, September 1, according to reports.
Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined amongst active players. Her record of 39 Grand Slam titles puts her third on the all-time list and second in the open era.
Ohanian is an Internet entrepreneur and investor. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Chris Ohanian, an Armenian-American whose grandparents came to the US as refugees after the Armenian Genocide, and a German-born mother, Anke.
Chris Shepherd, a senior producer at West Palm Beach’s WPBF first broke the news on Twitter, saying that Williams had given birth to a baby girl weighing 6 pounds and 13 ounces. Additionally, Laura Wagner of Deadspin tweeted that before her match at the U.S. Open, Venus Williams confirmed her sister had given birth to a baby girl.
Beyoncé even took to Instagram to congratulate her friend on the birth, Mashable says.
YEREVAN, August 25, /ARKA/. On August 26-27 the village of Zorakan in the Armenian province of Tavush, populated mostly by Armenian refugees from the village of Chardakhlu in Azerbaijan, will host the second festival called ‘Millennial Traditions’.
The coordinator of the festival Hovhannes Karapetyan told journalists today that the main purpose of the festival is to encourage the development of border regions and the restoration of old traditions. He said the residents of Zorakan used to have interesting traditions, which the festival is trying to restore. In his words, the festival will feature organic fruits and vegetables grown in the village.
The tourists, if they wish, will be able to participate in various daily activities of the residents, take a course on honey pumping, cooking traditional dishes, sewing a blanket, making home vodka and even sewing a donkey saddle.
They will also be offered the opportunity to prepare a traditional Armenian dish called “hophop”, which is prepared of goose or chicken meat, onions and pomegranate. The participants of the festival will also take part in rural folk games – tug-of-war games and the traditional ritual called “nuru-nuru”, believed in old times to help villagers ‘cause” rain.
Instead of hotels the guests will be staying at the homes of local residents. In the evening all the guests will gather around a bonfire to fry meat or potatoes, corn and sing songs. The next day, they will go to the nearest forest to gather cornel, blackberries and other berries, after which they will take pictures of a hundred-year-old tree with a huge hollow .
Until 1988 the village of Chardakhlu was located in Azerbaijan. Residents of the village were forced out of their homes by Azerbaijani authorities. The village is the birthplace of two marshals of the former USSR – Hamazasp Babajanyan and Ivan Baghramyan , as well as 12 army generals and seven heroes of the Soviet Union. –0–
The Ministry of defence of Israel refused to comment on the incident
The Israeli defense Ministry conducts a review in connection with the accusations against the company Aeronautics Defense Systems – manufacturer of armed drones Orbiter. The representatives of Armenia, said that the company’s employees in testing drone attacked Armenian positions in order to demonstrate its capabilities to Azerbaijan. In Aeronautics Defense Systems charges categorically reject.
About the trials in Azerbaijan the Israeli UAV Orbiter 1K and told Israeli Newspapers.
According to “Haaretz”, citing a report from the newspaper “Maariv”, the representatives of Azerbaijan, is considering the purchase of a new Israeli drones, asked staff Aeronautics Defense Systems to demonstrate the capabilities of drone kamikaze Orbiter 1K. To do this, the operators of the UAV proposed strike on positions of the Armenian armed forces near the border between the two countries.
According to the newspaper, Israeli operators refused, after which the leaders of the Aeronautics Defense Systems has equipped drones and themselves led them to the goal. The goals are not hit, but one of the drones fell 100 meters from the positions of Armenian armed forces.
In Aeronautics Defense Systems categorically rejected the accusations in the trial drones on live targets. The company said that such demonstrations have not performed ever. The attack on the Armenian positions in the Aeronautics Defense Systems called the initiative of the buyer – Azerbaijan. The Ministry of defence of Israel refused to comment on the incident, but acknowledged that under the Ministry, the Agency on control over arms export checks in connection with the accusations Aeronautics Defense Systems.
“Architects of Denial,” a documentary focusing on the denial of the Armenian Genocide
Also Says it Will Forge Relationship with Armenian Community
GLENDALE– Moments ago, the Armenian National Committee of America – Glendale received a letter from Caruso Affiliated Executive Vice President of Operations, Jackie Levy condemning “violence and atrocities of any form anywhere in the world, including the Armenian Genocide that has impacted the lives of Armenians in our community.” The letter also states that Caruso Affiliated will work with the producers of “Architects of Denial” and the City of Glendale in an effort to display the advertisement at the Americana at Brand, at no cost to the producers.
The ANCA Glendale welcomes this important albeit delayed response as the first step in addressing a larger issue of insensitivity toward the Armenian-American community and utter lack of outreach and understanding. We look forward to working with Americana at Brand and Caruso Affiliated to further address the community’s needs and develop a positive and constructive relationship moving forward.
We especially want to thank the grassroots in our community who rose to the occasion by making our collective concerns heard on a larger scale. This outcome shows that when the community is activated, decision makers will hear its voice.
We are sincerely grateful to our elected officials – specifically State Senator Anthony Portantino who joined us on the ground from day one, members of the Glendale City Council who supported our position, as well as US Congressman Adam Schiff, LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, and Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian for responding to the call for action and providing their staunch support that made this possible.
Below is the letter sent by Caruso Affiliated to the Glendale community.
To the Glendale community:
Over the past few days, we have reached out to, and heard from, many longtime friends in the Glendale
community, including those who spoke at the Glendale City Council meeting this week.
We have learned, through these countless conversations and exchanges, our position on human rights
has been misunderstood and for that we apologize. We have always condemned violence and atrocities
of any form anywhere in the world, including the Armenian Genocide that has impacted the lives of
Armenians in our community.
While this advertising use is a violation of the city’s zoning, we will work with the producers of
Architects of Denial and the city of Glendale in an effort to display the advertisement at The Americana
at Brand, at no cost to the producers.
We have the utmost respect for and appreciate the deep values of the Armenian community in this
great city.
Sincerely,
Jackie Levy
Executive Vice President of Operations
Trainings for IT beginners are held in Gyumri since April, Panorama reports. The trainings are organized by the “D-Link International”, “Instigate Design” and “Develandoo” companies.
The programs of “Instigate Training Center” are at the basis of the course. The classes take place at the research center of “D-Link International” in Gyumri. The staff of “Instigate Design” and “D-Link International” companies performs as teachers.
According to the public communications service of UITE, 22 students were chosen from 57 applicants.
The trainings are aimed at providing IT beginners with necessary working capacities, introducing the production process of contemporary IT companies to them, preparation of young specialists for Gyumri IT companies.
Arman Poghosyan, the Head of the “Instigate Design” company mentioned that the trainings are successful, as it is already agreed that 17 young specialists will start working in the abovementioned companies after the training completion.